What a way to lose a race — and $7,000.

Ethiopian runner Senbere Teferi, who won the Peachtree Road Race in Atlanta a year ago, had a seemingly insurmountable lead ahead of this year’s 10K competition to win back-to-back titles — until she followed a police motorcycle, which had been leading the race, off the course, allowing Fotyen Tesfay to take first place instead.

The defending champion was closing in on the finish line, but that wrong turn cost Teferi not only four seconds off the winning time, but also she lost out on the $10,000 first-place prize and had to settle for the $3,000 third-place reward.

The AJC Peachtree Road Race committee wrote a statement on how they felt about the mistake on their end that caused Teferi to lose.

“As our defending champion, Senbere Teferi, was approaching the finish line, it looks like she momentarily became confused and followed a police motorcycle when it turned off the course. She was within sight of the finish banner, but we understand that in the heat of competition instructions can be misinterpreted. As an organization, we are disappointed whenever we fall short of perfection, and in this case, it appears we did,” the statement said.

Tesfay, the runner who ended up winning the competition, also spoke on her feelings regarding the turn.

“I was really upset by Senbere’s mistake because she was in the front and she was leading, but she took that last turn,” she said. “I saw the finish line. At first I thought they didn’t really show us that well yesterday where the finish was. But after I saw that car turn, I saw the finish sign in front of me, so I pushed ahead. But I was really upset because I really planned to stick with Senbere at the finish.”

Teferi would have been the first woman in the Peachtree Road Race’s history to win the race in consecutive years, but now will have to wait until next year to put herself in that position again.